Parvus Meus Malleaus (my little hammer) is a dramatic scene for soprano and chamber ensemble taking its inspiration from the Malleus Malleficarum ("hammer of the witches"). The Malleficarum was written in the late 1400s to prove the existence of witchcrat, and to give instruction on identify and destroy a witch. The publication remained an integral part of the witch craze in Europe and colonial America. Parvus Meus Malleaus gives voice to a woman falsely accused and convicted of practicing witchcraft, and occurs in the moments just before her execution.

an excerpt from Luisa Villani's text:

If you felt a nothingness so large it threatened to undo you, you’d find your feet testing the earth too no matter what the weather. You’d dance this hectic kingdom of stones just to feel the good, good bruise, just to point,